More DoTube
I got some comments on my last two posts that suggested three more web video services to check out, ABC.com, SuperDeluxe, and BravoTV. I'll check out all of them and let you know what I think.
This morning I went to ABC.com. Yuck. If I wanted that experience, I'd watch TV. Sure it's impressive that you can watch full episodes of Lost and Grey's Anatomy on the web. My daughters love that.
But you cannot DO anything on ABC.com but watch and email a friend. And the pre-rolls are grating. It's way too commercial. It's not web native at all.
Maybe this will be a big hit. Maybe it already is. But it fails to DoTube test. On to the next one.
I'll have to see if any of these work in my google feed reader.
The amount of Ad's on all of these services is crazy though. Piss off a consumer to much and I guarantee they will find a way around it.
Posted by: William Ryall | March 28, 2007 at 09:52 AM
What do you want to do? Why can't viewing, or listening for that matter, be a passive experience?
I still can't figure out what the benefit of watching tv on the web is.
Posted by: jackson | March 28, 2007 at 03:02 PM
I think you should talk more about what your goals are in this experiment. As you say, I think ABC has a great experience as far as streaming goes, and I think that the direction things are headed is that there will be a lot of value created in end-running cable TV. That is, using some from of auto-downloading a high res file for shows that you know you want to watch, and then watching them on your TV at your convenience. This is essentially what TiVo does, except the "download" is a recording of the live program. This is the predominant model now, and I think that's what consumers want. The web is for browsing and finding things you like, so I think the embedded video stuff is great for clips and short stuff, but people want to watch the full length shows in high quality, not streaming, if they can help it.
Posted by: Chris Neumann | March 28, 2007 at 04:38 PM
If DOing is really the ultimate test, then Jumpcut is the answer. Watch it, EDIT it, share it.
Posted by: Andy Swan | March 28, 2007 at 11:07 PM
I've been using ABC.com to watch since the beginning of the season. For one thing the original version was very buggy but the existing one is very good in terms or not crashing so much. I think this is the future of free long form content on the internet. The advertising while extremeley annoying is tolerable because you only have 1.5-2 minutes of ads in an hour long show and it is a creative ad format. I would rather deal with the ads than pay $1.99 on itunes. Considering content is being pulled down on youtube and these type places will be the only way to watch full tv shows without paying, I figure it's a step in the right direction.
Richie
www.Bootstrapper.com
Posted by: Richie Hecker | March 29, 2007 at 03:19 AM
I'm as big a Creative Commons freak as you can get out there: remix, reuse, DoTube.
But I wasn't that turned off by the ABC thing at all. It may fail the DoTube test [and it's obvious that they should build communities around their shows instead of letting sites like Television Without Pity grab all the mavens].
But I agree with Richie, I didn't think the ad situation was too bad. On the episode of "Lost" I blew through, there was a short ad blurb at the beginning [5 sec] and then 2 or 3 movie trailers [Sony Pictures sponsored the episode].
I think movie trailers are kind of a precursor to what any interruptive advertising is going to have to be: solid content in and of itself.
[en route to the content itself being the connection between the marketer and the viewer]
Man, if they can grasp the power of getting the millions of peeps that watch these shows to hang out online together, look out!
[Anyone else in for the Arrested Development viewer dating network?]
The only thing that matters is quality. If the shows are good enough and the patrons feel a close enough connection to the talent, there will be a ton of $ to make by exploiting those relationships.
Posted by: EthanB | March 29, 2007 at 06:17 AM
Only two places to go for good videos these days. Here: http://www.BigMediaVideo.com and here: http://www.jibjab.com/what_we_call_the_news
Nuff said,
chrisco
Posted by: chrisco | March 29, 2007 at 07:14 AM
Fred - I agree with the majority of the comments here - I'm not sure the DoTube test is the right one for ABC. They are trying to monetise full length TV shows and people want to watch them in that format - does it need to be more complicated than that?
They are of course leaving money on the table with respect to community features, but we can't expect them to run before they can walk.
Posted by: Nic Brisbourne | March 29, 2007 at 08:25 AM
abc.com's episode viewer should never be considered DOtube but give it some credit, it is easily the best out of all the major networks (cbs, nbc, fox). The adds are short and some are even interactive. I have no problem watching three 30 second commercials if that is what it takes to let me watch my favorite shows online should I have to miss it on TV.
Posted by: Ben | April 06, 2007 at 07:19 PM